When an organ is transplanted, the immune system of the recipient will most likely recognize it as foreign tissue and attack it. The destruction of the organ will, if untreated, end in the death of the recipient.
To prevent that, immunosuppressant drugs are used to inhibit the reaction of the immune system. The downside is that with such a deactivated immune system, the body is very vulnerable to opportunistic infections, even those usually considered harmless. Also, prolonged use of immunosuppressants increases the risk of cancer.
Immunosuppression is also used to counteract autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or Crohn's disease, to prevent the immune system from attacking healthy parts of the body.
Cortisone was the first immunosuppressant identified. The more effective azathioprine was identified in 1959, but it was not until the discovery of cyclosporine in 1970 that transplant surgery found a sufficiently powerful immunosuppressive.
Immunosuppressive drugs or immunosuppressants are drugs that are used in immunosuppressive therapy to inhibit or prevent activity of the immune system.
It is possible to diminish their toxicity by using highly purified serum fractions and intravenous administration in the combination with other immunosuppressants, for example calcineurin inhibitors, cytostatics and cortisteroids.
It increases the expression or changes the function of certain adhesion molecules (α4/β7 integrin) in lymphocytes, so they accumulate in the lymphatic tissue (lymphatic nodes) and their number in the circulation is diminished.
Immunosuppressants are usually longer-lasting drugs and work in a different manner, usually by interfering with the body's white blood cells (T-cells or B-cells).
Unfortunately, modern immunosuppressants are not specific and suppress all of the immune system, leaving the patient vulnerable to a variety of opportunistic infections that would normally be prevented by the immune system.
Immunosuppressants are given to transplant patients to prevent organ rejection and to patients with autoimmune diseases like lupus.
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